Essay Example on Leonardo's Impressionistic Art: A Unique Take

Introduction

Turning to the paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci, he is also not left out in the incorporation of the art of impressionism in his work. Actually, he makes use of these art styles more than Jacopo does and this is what makes all his paintings unique and attractive. This is in terms of the appearance as well as the conveying of the message he wants to convey through these messages. Leonardo makes use of a great style whereby he shows the disciples of Jesus around him in the dining table by use of the continuous untilted table to show that at first all of them were all together (Wildgen). Peter is shown in the painting holding a knife that is pointing away from Jesus and shows that he will behave in a hilarious manner during the arrest of Jesus. Light is seen in the shadow of Judas behind Jesus when they partake of the last supper. Here, the painter uses the shadow of Judas getting bread at the same time with Jesus and means that there is some hidden plan by Judas to betray Jesus. However, Jesus is shown to have seen the shadow and known what was going to happen. The shadow is used as an effect of minimal light by the painter.

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The similarity in impressionism use by these two painters is that they both use open composition in the narration of the story behind their paintings, they show the light of Jesus and so on and so forth as well for the change of scenes throughout the paintings.

Color Palette Similarity

The color palettes of the two painters Tintoretto and Leonardo share a lot in common. Some of the common color palettes they both use in their works include greens, whites, blues, neutrals, and some red accents. All these color palettes as used by the painters have some specific meaning which they convey as a message from the paintings.

Tintoretto's use of the color palettes he chooses for his painting proves some influence by another Titian painter who had used them before and done great work in his art. Tintoretto utilizes the favored gold and red color accents in most parts of his paintings. The red color which he uses mainly means that there is an authority from the master and the master who is being pointed out, in this case, is Jesus (Hall). The use of the favored gold color is used by Tintoretto to show the call to the attention of the master. Naturality is all that is depicted by this painter when he uses the green colors in the paintings he comes up with and this again shows the uniqueness from the other painters around Italy.

Leonardo used a color palette that incorporated blues, browns, greens as well as some egg whites in most of his paintings. The neutrality that he utilized in the paintings with the use of the fade gray and brown colors worked to show the variation of the moods and tones of the pictures. Bright color palettes like red would show authority and so on (Wildgen). The similarity that occurs in the paintings in regard to the color palettes of the painters is that they use fade color palettes to who the moods of the paintings as well as the other brighter colors to show aspects of authority, attention, or so. The white color they make use of is used to show the purity and holiness especially in instances where Jesus is shown. The similarity in the color palettes proves the shared subject matter or the point which is being conveyed by the paintings.

Brush Stroke Application Differences

There are certain differences that are seen in the brush stroke applications in the paintings of the two painters Leonardo and Jacopo Tintoretto. The main difference is that despite the similar color palette usage in their paintings or rather the common colors they use, the way these colors are applied is different for the two.

Leonardo was unique in the way he painted his artwork in that he used boards, walls and sometimes stone on which he would paint his work. He applied his brush strokes layer after another to come up with his appealing paintings and used the paint which he got from some ground pigments (Wildgen). The application of brush strokes by Leonardo was done thoroughly and in a repeated pattern for some to show reflection.

Tintoretto, on the other hand, made a great change in the way he applied color to his paintings. This particular change was coming up with another brush stroke application method which he referred to as prestezza method which had three steps in it (Hall). He believed and practiced the use of fewer but good quality layers in the paintings than using the meticulous and or multiple layers in the paintings as his employer had done. He was sure that even with the few layers, he would get a thrilling output of his paintings.

The main difference that occurs in the paintings work of the two painters is the methods they both used in brush stroke application. Each used the brush stroke application method which they felt would give them the best quality of output as far as their paintings were concerned. The method used by Leonardo uses more layers and the quality of the paintings is high while Tintoretto has been reduced for maximization of cost and he later realizes that the quality has gone down with the reduction of the painted layers. It is the same with the final outlook of the paintings.

Subject Matter Differences

The work of Leonardo is more intensive than that of Jacopo Tintoretto because a lot of human figures, angels, Jesus, and the disciples are seen to take part in most scenes of the paintings. The events that even take place in the paintings of Leonardo are more than those in the work of Tintoretto (Wildgen). Tintoretto just describes one scene where the master who is Jesus is seen taking the last supper with his disciples seated around him on a round table.

The landscapes which are used in the two paintings are also quite different in that Tintoretto makes use of many landscapes throughout his paintings as compared to Leonardo. For example, the table which the disciples and servants are seen at extends to the atmosphere and or space in a certain angle (Hall). Another landscape conveyed in the painting is the landscape where Jesus is arrested and Peter is seen behaving in an awkward manner to cut off the ear of one of the soldiers.The difference in the content of the two paintings has got some significant meaning in connection to the quality of the painting and how the painting is well understood. Leonardo has more content in his paintings and explains all the instances of the last supper clearly and logically while Tintoretto conveys a very little message with the little content he adds in the paintings.

Conclusion

Although there might be criticisms concerning their work, these artists have tried to point out real issues which transpired during the last supper. Through their composition, a lot is learned and the real picture of the last supper is shown. The themes and styles that they both used showed their experience as painting artists.

Works cited

Hall, Marcia B. Color and meaning: practice and theory in Renaissance painting. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Wildgen, Wolfgang. "Geometry and Dynamics in the Art of Leonardo da Vinci." Cognitive Semiotics 5.fall2009 (2009): 66-92.